New York University professor Dr. Joseph LeDoux, has spent decades studying fear in the brain. He describes two pathways of differing lengths that fear signals follow within the brain. His experiments suggest that our sensory organs pass information to the thalamus, where signals split and trace two separate paths on their way to the amygdala, the brain’s threat center. Following the shorter path, one signal manages to sound the fear alarm before we’re even aware of the situation. The other reaches the sensory cortex a fraction of a second later, providing a much clearer picture of the potential threat. The second signal can reinforce the fear response or declare a false alarm. the concept of two separate pathways helps explain not only how we respond to danger so quickly
Posted on: Mon, 09 Sep 2013 04:49:42 +0000
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